Is cuimhin liom ceithre bliana ó shin, agus mé féin agus mo bhean chéile ag ceannach ár gcéad teach, go mbíodh muid – dála go leor lánúineacha eile –ag caitheamh ár ndeirí seachtaine ag dul timpeall na n-eastát nua tithíochta a bhí ag teacht ar an margadh. Ag siúl timpeall na dtithe beaga, thugainn faoi deara go raibh úsáid bainte as gach Continue reading
Author Archives: Admin
Deireadh le ré na lipéad ceirníní?
Ina cholún san eagrán deireanach de Beo!, phléigh Colm Ó Snodaigh na hathruithe teicneolaíochta atá tar éis tarlú sa tionscal ceoil. Mhol sé iad den chuid is mó agus mar chonclúid scríobh sé, “… is féidir le bannaí agus ceoltóirí … a gcuid ceoil a chraobhscaoileadh de réir mar is mian leo, ag aon am is mian leo … [B]eidh comhlachtaí Continue reading
Crash Ensemble’s first concert
Our latest issue leads with an article on the Crash Ensemble as it celebrates its tenth birthday. I suddenly remembered, listening to a recent edition of Nova, which focused on Crash, that I was at their first concert in 1997.
I can recall that I attended with the sean-nós dancer and musician Seosamh O Neachtain. At the time I was Continue reading
Small Country, Think Big
The third annual festival of the Institute of Ideas in London – The Battle of Ideas – took place in October. There was a music element this year, which I attended, comprising four separate discussions on music education, the ubiquity of music, the Continue reading
What Happens When You Stop Playing Tunes?: An Interview with Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh
From Rathfarnam in County Dublin, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh is a fiddle player, whistle player and uilleann piper. On fiddle he has recorded one solo album, Turas go Tír na nÓg (1999), and made a widely acclaimed duet recording with uilleann piper Mick O’Brien, Kitty Lie Over (2003). Now aged 27, Ó Raghallaigh has this year produced a solo recording which stretches beyond the boundaries of traditional music. This interview took place in An Spidéal, County Galway, on 23 July 2007.
Toner Quinn: You have just independently released a new twenty-eight minute CD, Where the one-eyed man is king, and it is an unorthodox recording for a traditional Irish fiddle player. Could you tell me about it?
Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh: It started in December 2006. I went to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Monaghan and the plan was to experiment with recording music in a way that I hadn’t done before, overlaying fiddles and playing Continue reading
Death of Tom Munnelly
Sad news today that one of Ireland’s most important and respected song collectors, Tom Munnelly, has died. Munnelly made the largest field-collection of Irish traditional song ever compiled by any individual, recording, indexing and transcribing over 20,000 songs, and he was a world authority on traditional song. Since 1974, he Continue reading
About the Money
Our lead article by Dermot McLaughlin takes issue with the progress made by the Arts Council in the traditional arts since the turning point three years ago when the Special Committee on the Traditional Arts delivered its report.
What is the reality of Irish musical life today?
Placing the entire seven years of JMI on the world wide web – and free to view – has been fascinating for myself as editor. There are many articles worth revisiting and I hope readers will take the time to wander through the over 500 articles so far. One particular phrase that leaped out at me appears in Frank Heneghan’s article on the MEND Continue reading
Music education services: achievable without a critical mass?
Recently, I sent a version of my editorial from the May-June 07 JMI into the Irish Times as a letter. It was published on April 24th (below), and a response came from Deirdre McCrea of Music Network on April 27th (also below).
Traditional Music and the Avant-Garde
During last year’s RTÉ Living Music Festival, a questionnaire was handed out. One of the questions was whether or not the audience would like to see genres other than contemporary classical music covered in future festivals. I ticked the ‘no’ box Continue reading
Toner Quinn 